France Arrests More Islamist Suspects in New Raids

Protesters march behind a French flag during a rally organized by human rights organizations to show unity between different religious communities following the shootings in Toulouse. Photo by EPA/BGNES

Police in France have conducted new raids on Islamist suspects, part of a crackdown following a series of killings by a gunman who claimed he had a mandate to wage jihad.

At least 10 people were arrested as police conducted operations in Marseille, Roubaix, Carpentras and a number of other locations.

Thirteen people arrested in raids last week face terrorism charges.

President Nicolas Sarkozy vowed to crack down on suspected radical Islamists after the Merah killings.

Most of Wednesday's raids were in the south and south-west, notably in Marseille but also in Carpentras, Valence and Pau, police sources told Agence France-Presse news agency.

There was also a raid in Roubaix, close to the Belgian border.

At the end of last week police arrested 19 suspected Islamists and seized weapons in pre-dawn raids across France.

Some of the arrests took place in Toulouse, where gunman Mohamed Merah carried out two of his three shooting attacks, which killed seven people in total.

Merah was shot dead in a police siege on March 22.

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